I always wake early on vacation and today was up and dressed just after sunrise (but before coffee)
It's warm but very windy
From our room, now that I have had my first cup of Starbuck's Coffee-there's one in the hotel, I can see the port nearby
The ships had already come back from their cruises, starting at 5 a.m. I watched them enter the harbor in the dark (they are hard to miss as they are lit like a giant Christmas Tree)
The tall tower at right is the Hyatt hotel, home of the Ft. Lauderdale webcam and I see our ship to the left of it.
Ruby Princess docked at Terminal 2- OK so now I am getting excited!
It will be about 5 hours before we can board her at noon so we have lots of time to have a leisurely breakfast outside at Riva, then pack our suitcases. This is one of the reasons we get here a day early.
We are not flying in today, maybe held up by weather and now watching the time tick away. We're not at the airport waiting for our luggage to appear and then waiting for a taxi to the port.
We're sitting in the shade eating a fine hotel breakfast, with all the time in the world to enjoy it.
At 10.30 or so we'll take the short taxi ride (15 minutes including a stop at the security gates to show passports) to Terminal 2. There sits the Ruby, towering high above the dock. We give our luggage to a porter who is loading cages. We always tip $5 as insurance against our luggage "accidentally" falling into the water. Then we can go inside and be processed before boarding the ship.
There's already 100 or so people in line, but as we are sailing in a Suite, we get to go in another entrance where there are maybe 20 people ahead of us, so things move quickly and soon we are through security (similar to the TSA experience in an airport). There is a row of over 20 Princess agents behind a long desk. When it our turn we meet one of them and show our Boarding Passes which we printed out at home from the Princess Website. "Welcome back" she said as we have cruised Princess before (this was our 4th voyage) as she handed us a small map of the ship and our Ship Cards, which is like a credit card that we will use as (a) our room key and (b) to pay for things on the ship as cash is not used there.
With that done we get to wait in a lounge until the ship is open to Embarkation. Snacks and drinks are provided.
12 Noon at the latest the doors are opened and we ride an escalator up one floor, where we meet a photographer who wants to take our boarding photo (which we can buy next day -if we want-for $20)
Once past him we set foot on the gangway and cross from the dock to the ship. Now it gets exciting!
At the end of the gangway we have to show our Ship Card to a security officer who scans us aboard and uses the same scanner to take a photo of our faces for identification when we return to the ship in port. I know the potential stowaways among you are disappointed to hear this...
NOW we are free to roam the ship and begin our cruise experience!!
Unlike some cruise lines, the rooms on the Princess ships are ready for you the moment you come onboard. Our luggage isn't here yet so we drop off our hand luggage in the room. In the photo you can see the wet bar and flat screen TV (there is another in the bedroom). There is a fridge behind the wooden cabinet doors. It holds a mini bar and for suite passengers the contents are free (hooray!) but once you drink everything in there you'll have to pay for more (boo!)
Bedroom-not shown is the bathroom which is split in two (with two entrances). One side has a large glass shower and a jacuzzi bathtub while the other has a toilet and sink. There is a door between the two so that both cabin-dwellers can use the facilities at once-which is very handy to have.
The bedroom and living room both access the large balcony (18 ft X 8 ft) which is where we will spend a lot of our time.
This is the view-we are at the very back of the ship
Our room steward, who cleans our room and makes our bed each day, has brought us two small bottles of Korbel champagne to toast our sail away from Port Everglades
Once we boarded the ship I was busy- I ran up to book two prime seats in a quiet part of the ship called the Sanctuary (I'll explain later) and to put my name on the Ultimate Ship Tour list (explained later but the name kind of gives it away)
After that we enjoyed lunch up on deck by the pool where they serve good burgers and fries and the best Pizza at sea (yes, that means thin crust!)
We are from Chicago but deep dish pizza is not something we will never look for-we'll cross to the other side of the street to avoid it.
The luggage arrives an hour after we are in the room so we unpack. The time spent before the ship leaves passes quickly. There's lunch, movies playing on the big screen up on deck, the bars are open.
Half an hour before the ship leaves there is Muster Drill where you go to a designated assembly point and learn what to do in an emergency ( I don't mean say the mini bar being empty- I mean a real emergency where you might have to get off the ship to save your life). These are mandatory by law and your Ship Card is scanned as you enter the assembly room. In our case this was 3 floors below us in Club Fusion (a night club) and there were 200 or so other passengers with us. Lifejackets are easy to put on and can save your life (hence the name). If you don't show up the crew will come find you.
The bars will be closed during the drill. The movies will stop. There will be an announcement over the ship's P.A. system.
Once the drill is done, the mooring ropes will be released and the ship will push away from the dock...
(video)
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